FSA Offices Shut Down as Border Wall Fight Continues

Farm Service Agency offices are officially shut down as of last week as the fight over the border wall holds up government funding in Congress. What does that mean for the second round of Market Facilitation Payments? Producers who have already certified their 2018 production acres with FSA will continue to get their payments. Those who couldn’t get the certification completed will have to wait until the government shutdown is over. When could that be? Likely not anytime soon.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said that this shutdown is because of one person alone who has been throwing a, “temper tantrum… Demanding the American taxpayer pony up for an expensive and ineffective border wall that the president promised Mexico would pay for. Make no mistake, the Trump shutdown is not about border security. All of the proposals we’ve made contain over $1B in new border security money, the same amount allocated last year by both parties and even the president agreed to, and the Trump administration has barely even spent any of the border security money from last year.”

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said that you would think this would be a top, bipartisan issue, and it had been until recently. He hit the rewind button back to 2006 when a bill was proposed to fund hundreds of miles of a border wall. He said, “26 Democrats voted for the bill including then Senator Obama, then Senator Clinton, and my good friend, the current Democratic Leader from New York.”

He then hit the rewind button to early 2018.

“The democratic leader offered $25B for physical barriers in his negotiations with the president. 5 times. 5 times as much as the White House is reasonably requesting right now.”

Some USDA services are continuing through the shutdown including meat, processed egg, and poultry inspection services. SNAP benefits are still going out to eligible households in January.